TechnoLawyer: TechnoFeature

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Cats and dogs living together may sound like a bad idea, but Brookings Institution economist George Winston has come up with a doozy — the deregulation of lawyers. While having Walmart greeters handle the paperwork for structured finance deals may not sound as bad as having them analyze your MRI, lawyer Liz Kurtz doesn't like it all the same. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Liz discusses the fallout from Winston's recent op-ed piece in the New York Times. She then tackles the related issue of publicly-held law firms, which just became a reality across the pond in the UK. Remember dear subscribers, before you can defeat the enemy you must know the enemy.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: The first legal billing applications started surfacing more than 30 years ago. However, many lawyers still jot down their time on paper, and many law firms still use a word processor to create invoices. Why? No one knows for sure but the simplicity of the old ways is likely a factor (though a paper-based system makes collections more complex). For this issue of TechnoFeature, Seattle estate planning and business lawyer Chandra Lewnau has written a comparative review of Paymo and Time59 — two web-based (cloud) billing applications. Are Paymo and Time59 simple enough to persuade paper-based law firms to enter the 21st century? More importantly, can either application serve your law firm's needs better than your current billing software? Chandra has the answer in her no-punches-pulled shootout review.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: In this issue of TechnoFeature, New Jersey lawyer Edward Zohn reviews two products — Snapdone and Snapnumbers — geared at the majority of law firms. Law firms that write their own software or on the flipside are considering upgrading from Windows 98 to XP can stop reading here. The rest of you may find Ed's thoughts on these two tools that add document assembly and document management to Microsoft Office of interest. After jumping on a hard drive a few months ago to test the manufacturer's durability claims, Ed has earned a well-deserved reputation for pushing the products he reviews to their limits. Don't skip his entertaining and informative review of Snapdone and Snapnumbers.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: All the talk about ediscovery these past few years makes it seem like that's the only important evidence. However, many smoking guns still reside in testimony because people say the darndest things even after being coached by their lawyer. If you're still reviewing transcripts on paper, we'd like to gently remind you that we're 12 years into the new millennium. It's time for a better tool. In this issue of TechnoFeature, 38-year (not 38-year old) Oakland lawyer Jeffrey Allen reviews TextMap 6, a transcript management program. Jeffrey has used all six versions of TextMap so you won't find a more insightful review than this one.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Working on vacation may sound like a terrible idea, but like anything it's all relative. It beats canceling a vacation. Here's the problem. You can't manage your practice by calendar and email alone. You need access to your entire practice management system. In this issue of TechnoFeature, lawyer and practice management expert Seth Rowland runs through the four current options for accessing your practice management system on the go. For each option, he discusses several products, including their pros and cons.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: John Lennon lamented about receiving "no reply" from his erstwhile girlfriend, but in the world of email no reply is often desired. Two problems exist. First, if you send firm-wide or department-wide messages, out-of-office and "Thanks" replies will likely clog your inbox. Second and much worse, replying to all instead of to just the sender can inadvertently disclose confidential and privileged information and get you fired. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Outlook expert and publisher of Small City Law Firm Tech Vivian Manning reviews two Outlook add-ons — "No Reply All" and "Reply to All Monitor" — that respectively tackle these problems. Read Vivian's in-depth review to find out how well they work.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: Longtime TechnoFeature subscribers know that we're skeptical of futurist hyperbole and groupthink. Without much empirical evidence, a group of non-practicing lawyers has emerged who congregate at various conferences and predict that law firms will become an endangered species if they don't transform. Yes, industries change but not overnight. Evolution is common, revolution is rare. So at the beginning of 2011, we reached out to practice management, business development, and marketing consultant Allison Shields whose judgment we trust to jot down her observations this year during the course of her work advising law firms. In this article, she discusses five trends in the legal profession that she believes have taken root this year — and how you can capitalize on them.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: If you can no longer listen to The Who's "Going Mobile" without thinking about your next business trip, you're probably a good candidate for Fujitsu's ScanSnap S1100 portable scanner. But is this small scanner a good fit for you? Who better to ask than intellectual property lawyer and world traveler Al Harrison? We sent him a ScanSnap S1100, which he took with him on his travels along with his trusty laptop. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Al reviews the ScanSnap S1100 and its bundled software. And that's an understatement because this frequent flyer even tested it on several flights in both first class and coach. Thanks to his extensive testing, Al discovered some unique uses for this scanner even among non-travelers.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: "The future's so bright I gotta wear shades" sang a long forgotten one-hit-wonder. If the future of your law firm seems bright, make sure you wear shades and not blinders. A practice management system can help you avoid blind spots such as delinquent clients and underperforming lawyers. In this issue of TechnoFeature, Connecticut software consultant Caren Schwartz reviews AdvologixPM, a cloud-based practice management system that runs on Salesforce.com's platform as a service. Huh? Basically, it means that AdvologixPM and your data resides on servers managed by a large public company. You use AdvologixPM in your web browser. Freed from having to manage its own data center, Advologix can focus entirely on creating legal-specific features. That's the theory at least. How well does AdvologixPM work in practice? Read Caren's comprehensive review to find out.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to TechnoFeature: At this point, managing partners understand the importance of backups. Simply put, your law firm has a better chance of surviving a disaster if it doesn't lose its data. Backups enable you to get back into business faster, which is the key to survival. But what about the backup device itself? In this TechnoFeature, New Jersey divorce, bankruptcy, and general litigation lawyer Edward Zohn reviews two ioSafe hard drives — the ioSafe Rugged Portable and the SoloPRO External. Both are waterproof and shock resistant, and the latter is even fireproof. For several months, Ed used these hard drives in his law practice, including during Hurricane Irene. He also ran them through some stress tests (e.g., he stood on the Rugged Portable). Finally, Ed conducted a cost/benefit analysis, comparing the ioSafe hard drives not only to regular hard drives but also to online backup services. His verdict? Read this comprehensive review to find out.

How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. As a result, TechnoFeature offers some of the most profound thoughts on law practice, and helpful advice about legal-specific products. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.